The National Information Technology Development Agency (NITDA) has hosted a one-day capacity-building workshop on Information Technology Contract Management for legal officers from parastatals under the Federal Ministry of Communications, Innovation and Digital Economy (FMCIDE).
The initiative, held in Abuja, aims to deepen institutional competence within Nigeria’s digital economy sector. The workshop was designed to strengthen participants’ understanding of procurement procedures, negotiation techniques, compliance frameworks, and dispute resolution mechanisms specific to IT contracting.
Representing the Director-General of NITDA, Kashifu Inuwa, the Director of Regulations and Compliance, Barrister Emmanuel Edet, emphasized the pivotal role IT contracts play in shaping governance and service delivery in the digital age.
“Digital transformation is no longer an ambition but a necessity. The agreements guiding technology adoption and deployment carry long-term consequences for Nigeria’s development,” he stated.
He further stressed the required complexity of these agreements: “The contracts we negotiate, draft, and execute in the IT space must be technologically sound, legally robust, commercially fair, and strategically aligned with our institutional mandates.”
Inuwa urged participants to view the workshop as more than just a training exercise, but as a catalyst for reform. “Let this event be a prompt for collaboration, a forum for critical thinking, and a commencement for institutional reform,” he charged the officers.
Participants, drawn from diverse professional backgrounds including law, technology, finance, and administration, were commended for their commitment to raising standards in public contracting.
The training offered valuable opportunities for networking and peer learning, enabling officers to exchange experiences and propose solutions to common challenges. Many attendees described the training as timely, given the increasing complexity of technology agreements and the critical need for clear legal safeguards in Nigeria’s evolving digital landscape.
Through this proactive approach, NITDA is reaffirming its leadership in capacity building, equipping legal officers with the expertise needed to guide their institutions toward sound and effective technology contracting practices. The initiative is expected to strengthen institutional processes across ministries, departments, and agencies, thereby contributing to improved public service delivery and greater transparency in government technology engagements.